Jonny - Thought I'd wait until the "new gear buzz" had worn off and I'd done a decent-sized gig with The Compact before sending you a review.

The gig was in a 300 capacity venue with full PA, large stage and separate monitor mixes, so I needed only moderate volume. The other bands were using a large rig - a powerful amp with a 4x10 & 1x15 - but I have to say my micro amp (Markbass LMII) and The Compact combination sounded so much better! (The amp was on a 2" thick piece of foam to stop it moving around/isolate it from vibrations and the cab was sitting directly on the stage). Yes, the giant rig would have gone louder than mine (had it needed to), but The Compact gave me a much more musical sound (for want of a better term), at the right volume for this stage: plenty of fat bottom end, mid punch and smooth upper range. I definitely didn't miss having a tweeter and my effects were clean and crisp too. Having used an LMII through a variety of brands of 2x10, 3x10, two 1x12's, and 4x10, I never though a single 15 with no tweeter would work on it's own, but The Compact really does the business and is lighter than any of those. If I ever need more than one Compact, I'll just get another!

I also did a side-by-side comparison with a Markbass 102p and going from one to another without changing any amp or bass settings, the difference was immediately obvious. Having dialled in the amp with a touch of bass boost as suggested, The Compact was sounding seriously hefty, with thick lows, that woody, chest-thump that I love and natural-sounding top end, ie no squawk. It easily handled the lows produced by the Dingwall without crapping out, right down to the dropped A of the 37" B-string. Switching straight to the 102p and the "Markbass mid signature" was there, but where did all the low end go? More bass boost didn't help as the 102p couldn't handle it, whereas The Compact could and at impressive levels too. The Compact is also 1lb lighter.

Overall then, I'm very pleased with this cab's performance and finish. (My only criticism is that a couple of the corner caps were crooked, but I'm being VERY picky here!) So yes, as the name say's, it's compact. It's also loud, beefy-sounding and very portable, which means other band members don't mind carrying it! (Our [female] singer/guitarist picked it up and said, "Wow, it's really light, but it doesn't look it. And it's much lighter than my guitar amp...").

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Merton - The Compact is the best 1x15 cab I've heard bar none. Plus is light as a feather!

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greenboy - If you want to add rich and unrelenting low-end to what you've already got get Alex to build you a woofer-only The Big One. And mon, that's it for roots reggae too! I've rolled with cabs equivalent to each of his cabs (have them right next to each other actually), and though The Compact is louder than anything else for the size and weight, The Big One two-way with midrange section gets my Desert Island Award - splendid crisp articulate hugeness with great imaging on any size of stage and won't slink off to Fartsville no matter how much down-tuned bass boost is applied.

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